dnbforum had a chat with Australia's freshest Drum & Bass export, Pendulum. With forthcoming releases on labels such as Renegade Hardware, 31 Records and G2 Recordings, things are certainly looking good for the trio from Perth, Australia.

1. How many are there in Pendulum, and what are your solo DJ/producer names?

3 of us: Elhornet(Paul) / Anscenic(Rob) / Speed(Gareth).

2. How did you all meet?

Anscenic: We'd all been writing tunes seperatly for ages but Pendulum basically came about when Speed and I teamed up to play a live set at El Hornet's club. We had everything ready to go when my hard drive completely packed in at the last minute, taking most of my tracks down with it, so we asked El Hornet to step in and play a set from CD's we still had. He was into our tunes, we were into his - next thing you know we were churning stuff out as a trio with a sound that none of us could have come up with on our own.
Elhornet: Gareth used to hassle me to play 'Sugar Crashing' all the time haha

3. How long have you been working together for?

We formed last year..

4. Why do you make such dope tracks?

Not really sure how to answer this one. I think we're just lucky that people think tunes we make are dope in the first place.

5. Are Pendulum the new Concord Dawn?

No. There can only be one Concord Dawn. We're something altogether different. They're from New Zealand and we're from Australia. We are comparable in the sense that we're all a bunch of metalheads though Concord Dawn have been amazingly supportive of us since day 1. It was Evan from Concord Dawn who was the first person to pick up on Vault and play it out and we have utmost respect for those guys, but we're not trying to walk in their shadow.

9. What effect does "geographic isolation" have on getting material released?

Thankfully due to the internet it doesn't seem to have any effect at all. People have asked us for tunes without any knowledge of our location. We've been asked if we're 'going down the end this weekend m8?' only to say 'um...we live in Australia'.. It's truly a global thing now.

10. Is there a European tour planned?

We're hoping to get over to Europe and do some gigs soon.

11. How long have you been into Drum & Bass?

Since the first time each of us heard it, whenever that was.

12. This is for El Hornet, where did your name come from?

Years ago I had a nickname which was 'The Brown Hornet', which came from the Fat Albert Show. I needed a shorter version for internet stuff and came up with that. Then in time I started playing out and there wasn't really anything else I could use. It's great. MC's have great trouble fitting it into rhymes

13. Has the Internet helped in your success?

Oh yeah for sure. Without the support of places like dnbforum and DOA I don't think people would have access to as many new tunes as they currently do, and that in turn meant more people got to hear our stuff which helped get the music out there. The net is so good for producers to get opinions on their music. Everyone should spend a few hours now and then going through places like The Grid on DOA and the producers section on DSCI4 and listening/commenting on all the new stuff people are making.

14. Do you DJ as a group or as solo artists?

Paul (Elhornet) is the best DJ out of all of us by far, but we will soon play as a group as well as solo.

15. Who are your top un-signed producers?

These guys do have stuff signed but I personally think they should have more stuff picked up:

Phace

Kiko

Psidream

..and its a matter of time before guys like Infiltrata and the Defiant crew get noticed some more.

16. Did you expect to get so much attention with just one track? Did you finish it and think, "wow, this is the one!"

Didn't expect any attention from Vault at all other than us playing it out in Perth and mashing a few heads. After seeing the reaction of dancefloors it became pretty apparent that something silly was going to happen. And it has.

17. Your production style is more Bad Company than Bad Company. Discuss!

Hmm dunno. Always been into Bad Co but this isnt us trying to do what they're doing, its just what comes out of the studio I guess. I dig how Fresh tries to use some really fucking weird/cool sounds, but I think as soon as anyone knew uses a reece and has clean steppy production everyones keen to compare them to Bad Company. Either way, cool comparison all the same, but not what we're intentionally trying to do.

TUNES & PRODUCTION

1. Software or hardware?

Both. Mainly software recently.

2. What software (and/or hardware) do you use to produce?

That would be telling

3. Were there any influences behind "Spiral"?

Not really. We recorded the vocals and the tune basically wrote itself from there. I guess the "male vocal half-trance-n-bass" tunes around at the time played some part, but we'd been writing tunes along those lines for a while beforehand.

4. Were there any influences behind "Vault"?

Not really either. People have been comparing it to stuff left right and center but it came about by itself, like most of our tunes, without any real pre-planning of what/who it was going to sound like.

5. How did you come up with "Vault"?

It went through quite a few different stages before it was finished...we'd had the idea for a 2 bar swing change for a while but weren't really sure how to implement it, or whether we'd give it out to DJ's/labels and hear "Nice tune, but that swing bit is wack".

6. CD/MP3 or vinyl?

...are all audio formats? You win a prize!

7. When is "Vault" released?

Vault will be out on Kingz Of The Rollers Part 3, around June/July.

8. What other Drum & Bass projects are you working on now?

Heaps and heaps of stuff in the works at the moment and 100's of other ideas in the works that may or may not ever become a reality .. Currently working on a vocal thing called 'Back To You'.

9. Are you working on any other genres other than Drum & Bass?

Not seriously at the moment.

10. How did "Vault" get signed to 31 Records?

Doc Scott heard the tune we did for Low Profile called 'Spiral'. He got in touch and put the idea of Kingz Of The Rollers to us and asked if we wanted to contribute a tune for it. We sent him Vault and he was into it, so we joined the 31 family

1. Will you be using your new found success to help push the Australian Drum & Bass scene?

Most definently. It's doing pretty damn well on its own already though. Ask anyone who's played here.

2. Where do you see the Australian Drum & Bass scene heading?

Hard to say really. Hopefully the scenes keep growing like they have done for the last few years.

3. What is the Perth Drum & Bass scene like?

People in Perth are very passionate about Drum & Bass and also very opinionated. They know what they like and there is great support here for this music. Like anywhere Perth suffers from politics, but overall it is a very healthy city for broken beat music.

4. Other than yourselves, are there any other Australian Drum & Bass producers we should look for?

Greg Packer is already kicking ass worldwide. Sardi has some hot new tunes to follow up his Aspect release also. Vice Versa from Sydney have some awesome releases lined up on Good Looking and are really going to do big things in terms of smooth dnb. Perth guys to look out for - radium, heretik, rafti, phetsta, medwin. Other people doing good things include Adelaide guys like Timothy Grass, Well Being and Luther.

OFF-TOPIC

1. Do you like curry?

speed: I'm not a fan of curry but i get told again and again that curry in england owns..
elhornet: I prefer nachos but curry is orrite too
anscenic: no

2. What do you do when your not in the studio?

elhornet: I run a club, skateboard alot and spend too much time on the internet
speed: uni doing computer science and work as a computer tech
anscenic: umm

3. Do you watch Neighbours?

elhornet: strangely, I watched it tonight. That blonde chick still has massive hooters and all these new people were in it.....but it felt like nothing had happened in a year.
speed: if im still eating after simpsons is over
anscenic: haha no i dont watch neighbours

4. Do you watch Steve Irwin AKA "Crocodile Hunter"?

elhornet: He has his own figurine!
speed: no
anscenic: no

** note: I dont think any Australians actually watch this donkey on tv. We all talk like him though. Even the women. Crikey!

5. Do you have a BBQ in your garden, and a plentyful supply of shrimp?

elhornet: I dont have a bbq but I do have a empty swimming pool in my backyard.
speed: bbq yes shrimp no
anscenic: i dont like the outdoors and dont eat seafood

** note: what the fuck is a shrimp. we call them prawns.

6. If you could move from Australia, where would you go?

anscenic: somewhere cold and snowing
elhornet: i like it here, rob is insane although it would be cool to go somewhere else for a while
speed: where ever the action is haha